Ghost Song

A hundred years ago, during the height of the Edwardian music hall era, the Tarleton Music Hall, on London's south bank, was one of the city's glittering night-spots, with song-and-dance man Toby Chance heading the bill. But Toby disappeared in 1914 and the Tarleton has been locked ever since. With property prices soaring, an investment group hires Robert Fallon to survey the place. Fallon is charmed by the project and the rumors that the Tarleton is haunted by a Singing Ghost. The deeper he delves, though, the harder it gets to shake the notion that he is being menaced by the past. As is customary for Sarah Rayne, this novel weaves together plot lines set in different time periods, all of them suspenseful and deeply atmospheric, and connected by a wall that shouldn't be there. Perhaps the most fascinating part of the novel are the sections set in the Edwardian music hall; Sarah Rayne's father was a music hall singer and songwriter in that era, and she has said she was inspired to write the novel by the realization that a lot of music hall songs had hidden meanings in their lyrics.